Should Christians Be Contemplating?

Now, Contending for the Faith. In this regular feature, Dave and Tom respond to questions from listeners and readers of The Berean Call. Here’s this week’s question: “Dear Dave and T.A., Our youth pastor at our church is introducing our kids to what he calls the contemplative approach to Christianity. He claims that it is a part of historic Christianity and will help our children connect with God in a deeper, more serious way. It sounds good, but I’m not sure that it’s a good thing. What do you know about such an approach?”

Tom: Well, you know, Dave, we get into a number of subjects here, and I keep forgetting to tell our listeners if there’s something that we’re talking about on the program—sometimes we only have a brief time to address it. But if they give us a call, or write to us, or send us an email, you know we have more information on that.

For example, this subject, the whole contemplative approach to Christianity, we have materials, we have resource materials, we have newsletters, you can go on our website and look these up. For example, I did an article on the contemplative movement called “Please Contemplate This,” and it related to our youth. Because there are organizations, youth organizations, who are very much into what they call “contemplative” that is, almost meditative, a meditative approach to experiencing God, to sensing Him, and so on. But it’s really—the meditation is Eastern meditation, the approach is drawn from out of Catholic mysticism. That’s where they got it.

Dave: Well, Tom, it’s a confusing word—contemplation, contemplative, meditation—because that word in the West means to think deeply about something. So the man says, “Oh, they claim this goes back in Christianity.” Indeed it does.

Psalm 1: “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinner, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law doth he meditate both day and night.” David talks about meditating in the night watches on his bed and so forth. By that you mean “thinking deeply”—trying to come to a deeper understanding, but as you alluded to, this is Eastern meditation. It’s the opposite. You tune it out. You let your mind go blank. You reach a relaxed but alert state, in which—well, you may use a mantra. You repeat it over and over and over. That tunes you out from rational thought, and now you have some experiences. You’re going to try to visualize, you’re going to try to experience God. And, Tom, that is deadly, and you’ve written on it, we’ve written on it together. It’s tragic, but this is in the church.

Tom: Dave, I remember one large gathering. It was a conference of youth. Probably the largest organization that was sponsored by Group Magazine and most youth pastors would know about this. This is where they get much of their material and they had a very large gathering and one of the attractions in their advertisement was that they were going to put the kids through what’s called the prayer labyrinth. You know, I’m laughing, but I shouldn’t be laughing. It’s a heartbreaker. A prayer labyrinth. This is something that they found in one of the Catholic cathedrals in Europe.

Dave: Right, I’ve been there.

Tom: And the whole idea. Right. It’s a labyrinth on the floor, and then because it was difficult, instead of making your pilgrimages to Jerusalem, and to the East because of the Crusades that were going on, well they let them go through this prayer labyrinth, and of course you still got your indulgence for that. But the way it’s used now, and it’s really promoted by the Episcopal Church, is that it’s a meditative walk. It involves Eastern meditation under the guise of being Catholic or Christian mysticism. But it’s leading our kids into the occult.

Dave: Sadly, it is. But how do I get to know God? How do I get to know His Word? I want a deeper understanding. Solomon said, “Wisdom is the principle thing, therefore get wisdom. And with all your getting, get understanding.”

Now understanding doesn’t come by tasting with taste buds.

Tom: It’s not the sense-oriented kind of thing.

Dave: Right, or by visualizing or seeing. It’s something deeper than that. It comes through…God reveals Himself to us—not in some feeling—but to know Him, and to know His Word. This is what I need. And the Word of God is not written in pictures. It’s not written in some kind of feeling. But it leads me into an understanding.

And it’s very important, Tom, because [in] Matthew 13, Christ talks about the sower that went forth to sow. The first seed fell by the wayside. The birds of the air came and took it. And the disciples said, “What does that mean?”

Jesus said, “When anyone receives the word of the kingdom….” He didn’t say they don’t get into this contemplative mental state. They don’t visualize or whatever. He said, “Anyone who receives the word of the kingdom and understandeth it not—then cometh that wicked one, takes from the heart the seed that was sown.” So it isn’t feelings. It is understanding. And I cannot believe what I don’t understand. And to simply go by feelings and, Tom, tragically, this is how many people operate today: “Well, I just feel like this would be a good investment. I’m going to get involved in the stock market. Let me see which one do I feel like?”

Or, “I’ll go into this visualization,” or whatever. No, you better have some study and some understanding. We need to study God’s Word: “Study to show yourself approved unto God.” Search the Scriptures daily, and get to know Him and His Word, and that’s the opposite of this kind of meditation that they’re teaching now.

Tom: And this is what we need—just as you’ve been saying, Dave—this is what we need for our young people. I mean they are already sense-oriented, with music and everything else. But to quiet them down and contemplate their navel or a candle. And this is what they’re doing. It’s tragic and it’s an introduction to the things that were talked about earlier—that this is preparation for the last days, for occultism to take over, and people to begin to worship the adversary. If this is taking place in your church, if you’re concerned about it, as I said earlier, we have information. So Gary will tell you how to get hold of that information.